


you're the one that I want at the end of the day

by prettyboy_bucky



Series: Christmas meet cutes [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Carols, Cute notes, Hate to Love, Jealousy, M/M, Secret Santa, Stark Industries, alot of marvel character references, christmas light competition, kind of BDSM, steve is extrmely festive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:44:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5199512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboy_bucky/pseuds/prettyboy_bucky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve just wants to enjoy Christmas as usual but can't seem escape the guy who seems to be everywhere he goes.<br/>On a completely different note his secret Santa keeps leaving him weird notes...</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're the one that I want at the end of the day

**Author's Note:**

> I might be adding more to this over time or I might just write a whole bunch of other Christmas aus because it's just fun to write :P

Steve woke up bright and early on December first, pulled on a Christmas jumper- one that had a reindeer with a big red nose on the front - and by two in the afternoon, after a brief lunch break, his tree was set up. Decorated to within an inch of its life. He was putting on all of the remaining tinsel with Christmas music playing in the background. Steve strung up the bright lights around the ceiling and hung paper chains and banners over the tops of photo frames and then by the time he sat down for dinner he was surrounded by all his decorations. He was worn out, but the good type of worn out, where he knew he’d accomplished a lot.  
He'd been feeling festive ever since October, which didn't sit too well with his friends who were all crazy about Halloween. On the night of Halloween, Natasha, Sam and Clint were round at Steve’s, as well as Scott and Hope from across the road. They were all dressed up and had painted faces and were playing crappy music but Steve just sat in the shirt Natasha had ripped half off of him and the zombie face paint she had worn him down to have, and he ordered his friends Christmas presents. 

Now that it was officially December, however, it was as if the festive thermostat in Steve's head had turned full blast. 

December was, after all when it became acceptable to everybody else to act as if, and to actually feel like Christmas was just around the corner. 

 

 

"So we'll head out in ten, hit the houses down this side then cross over at the end and work back up" Steve was going through the plan for the third time since everyone had arrived, despite them insisting they understood the plan already. Which they no doubt did, Steve was just a perfectionist and Christmas was entirely his forte.

There was Sam, who worked with Steve and was highly uninterested in singing but Steve had somehow roped him in. 

One minute he'd said no and the next, he was learning the words to little donkey at Steve's kitchen table. 

There was Bruce, who had awkwardly asked Steve if he could come along, as part of his anger management course Tony had him doing before he'd be able to fully work for Stark industries. 

There were a few other people who lived down the same street as Steve there and two of the receptionists from Stark Industries as well. 

The group of them did it every year. Starting on December 5th or at least that was the date this year, otherwise it'd be the first Friday of December, it was part of Steve’s Christmas ritual. Between the Christmas carolling and the Christmas light competition their street had started doing since five years previous, it gave Steve the exact amount of Christmas spirit he needed to make sure he bought his Christmas presents early every year. Not that he needed much help in that front, he'd had all his presents for everybody since November 16th this year.  
His personal record. 

 

"Let's start with _We Wish You A Merry Christmas_ shall we?" Bruce suggested which everyone unanimously agreed to. 

Everybody knew not to delay if they didn't want Steve to become restless and stressed out with them all so they piled on their coats and gloves and boots and they probably went over the top, it wasn’t really that cold out there, but then they we're all ready to go. Opening the door Steve was already thinking about how he could wrap all his presents better than he had last year. He always tried hard. Last year they'd all been wrapped in brown paper with sparkly tape and silver bows and cute personalised tags. He just really enjoyed doing it. 

He was stopped in his tracks though, when there was a small group, a group of 4 people, knocking on the door opposite to Steve's and breaking out into song

 

"Son of a bitch" Sam said, they'd never had any competition before. 

"Language" Steve scolded him automatically which Peter instantly mocked him for. Peter Parker lived two doors down from Steve.  
He had painted glow in the dark paint on his dog for Halloween. Making him glow like a skeleton. That was all Steve really knew about him, he was a good laugh though. 

Trying to ignore their rivalry from the other side of the street, the group made their way from door to door. It almost seemed as if there was a system evolving. Steve's ‘group’ would sing at one house and as they moved on to the next house, the across the road group would sing, then as they moved on, Steve's group sang again. It was going okay until Steve had started singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas after going 6 doors down. The rival team across the road then joined in.  
Or rather, it seemed, tried to sing over them. 

"What the fuck" Sam cursed but Steve let it slide this time. Because _what the fuck_ indeed.  
Turning around, Steve saw that the group from the other side of the road were watching them. And with each line they sang, they became a little louder or they clapped along with it or seemed to harmonise better, until it was a literal sing off. They all stood opposite each other, "Like the pitch perfect riff of" one of the receptionists from work, Darcy, commented when Steve had spontaneously starting Let It Snow in the middle of the other teams Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer.  
It was entertaining enough that a few people even came out to watch. It was like the road was split down the middle, and the left and right side of the road were the teams. 

There was no way Steve was being bested at carolling. Either his determination or his enthusiasm meant that finally the other team backed off, once Steve had gone into Mariah Carey's _All I want for Christmas is you_. The look of surprise and almost pride on one of the other men's face told Steve that he had nailed it too. 

 

"Well that was weird" Bruce said breaking the silence as they headed back to Steve's for drinks (another tradition of theirs)  
"well we did win though" Steve shrugged. He'd always been a sore loser so he was happy tonight. 

 

 

Two days later, Monday morning came around and Steve woke up to his alarm clock playing Journeys _don't stop believing_. What could he say, he had great music taste. The song he woke up to was always the one to stick in his head the whole day, so he tended to switch it around every day.  
 He was a morning person and after a shower and toast and toothpaste and shirts and ties and black shiny shoes, he arrived at work. Right on time, as always, punctuality was kind of his thing. 

Marketing for Stark industries wasn't the most glamorous of jobs in the world Although Tony Stark himself sure was. Well, in theory he was anyway. The image of Tony Stark that the media portrayed showed a rich, stuck up snob of an inventor, salesman, billionaire, playboy, genius... The list was endless. 

However in reality, although some of it actually was true- he was a nightmare. Not in a bad way. He wasn't a nightmarish boss. He just held parties every couple of weeks and everyone who worked for him was too scared of losing their jobs to not attend. 

Tony been sleeping with his receptionist Pepper exclusively (or at least everyone thought so, Steve still had his doubts) for the past few months after someone had advised him how maybe sleeping with every female employee wasn't the best way to keep his staff.  
Amazingly yes, Pepper was the one to tell him this, and she was the first person to tell him, yet she too had succumbed to the allure of Tony as well. They all did. It was sad in a way, although Steve would be lying if he'd said he'd never thought about it. 

 

Today though, when Steve arrived the office was buzzing with talk of  
"have you met the new guy?"

"He bought cookies"

"He has a Christmas tie"

"He has long hair"

"His names James"

"He asked me to call him Bucky".

Steve was tired and not at all excited by the new man in the office idea. He didn't like the awkward introductions, he didn't like having a new face to become familiar with, he didn't like people who maybe wouldn't do their job as well as Steve liked to. Steve was a perfectionist, things had to be done right. 

His uneasy feelings towards the new guy only grew and strengthened when he saw the rival Christmas carol group member walk in carrying more coffee. 

 

"Steve, Bucky, Bucky this is Steve"

Natasha introduced them bouncing up to Steve with that look in her eye. Steve almost rolled his eyes. Natasha was gorgeous sure, but he'd definitely rather she not sleep with this new guy, especially if there was a chance he could redeem himself after the sing off situation. Just because Steve didn’t like new employees didn’t mean Stark Industries wasn’t in desperate need of them.

"Oh, so you’re _Steve_." Bucky had held out his hand for Steve to shake, smiling in such a way it made Steve think he was being laughed at. 

"And you. _You're_ the new guy" Steve had awkwardly shaken his hand, feeling that how his whole body was blushing his hand must feel unnaturally warm

"Wait… do you guys know each other?" Natasha asked but Bucky just shrugged "nah never met" Bucky had smiled and maybe he winked at Steve too but Tony exploding into the office so really who could tell. 

Exploding was the right way to describe it too.

Knocking off a pile of papers from James Rhodes’ desk, leaving him sighing and having to pick everything up himself, Tony then kicked a chair across the room after half tripping over, how this man was one of the richest men in New York Steve would never know. Tony then announced the annual Christmas party was scheduled for the evening of the 11th. It changed date every year so everybody kept Friday nights free just in case. People only really went as an obligation given the fact Tony could take away their jobs with a snap of his fingers. But they also went because if anybody knew how to throw a good party it was Tony. 

Steve went with Peggy. They went to all these parties together. The first time neither of them knew other people so they went together as a way to make themselves feel less lame but it had since become a tradition. Even if Peggy was dating someone at the time she’d still insist of going with Steve. 

The men didn’t dress up too much. They wore suits to work every day to they’d just add the suit jacket and would be ready to go.  
It was the venue and girls that made it feel fancy. The hall this time had gold detailing and plush red curtains, absolutely beautiful.  

Natasha was practically one of the guys in the office. Opting out of the cliques of problematic women. So did Peggy for the most part. Peggy always wore kickass heels, and she wore them incredibly well. If there was anybody who was the embodiment of the sound high heels make as they walk across marble flooring it was Peggy. 

She did always dress extra special for the Christmas parties, however, which surprisingly so did Natasha. It was a huge change in atmosphere, the Stark Industries office basically being one giant watercooler where you went to hear the latest gossip. 

When Steve first started there was another new guy called Peter who was fired after a few months but there were talks going round about how his mom had died when he was about 6. Steve had no idea where people found this stuff out from but everybody heard it. And it was true too.  

Natasha had since admitted, after Steve wouldn’t leave her alone, that people didn't really talk about him at the start. There was just a poll going round over if he was straight or gay. At that first Christmas party announcement Natasha and Tony both won shed loads of cash after Sam had offered to set him up with this ‘great’ girl he knew and Steve had turned him down. Steve thought technically they should have all kept their money but bisexual hadn’t been in the polls, plus he definitely felt more towards the men than the women so he went with it

He and Peggy stood by the table of food as always. They usually waited until everybody was drunker and much dancier before joining in. An attempt to save Steve’s dignity because everybody knew he had two left feet.

This time however he was distracted by Bucky walking in with Natasha on his arm. 

Steve tried to keep up a conversation with Peggy but as the night went on he kept seeing Natasha on Bucky's lap in the corner, feeding him strawberry’s and thank god for Tony Stark and his endless alcohol supply because Steve was able to get wasted on punch and tequila shots. "You can kiss me if you think it’ll make him jealous" Peggy whispered to him at one point with a smirk and eventually Steve actually dragged her out to dance which she negotiated pretty well given the shoes she was wearing. 

After a few awkward beats of a song, one slow dance and a very energetic YMCA on Steve’s part later, he and Peggy were making out in the hallway, Peggy holding her heels in her hands after her feet had begun to hurt, Steve was trying to pull his tie undone except Peggy stopped him, whispering in his ear softly for him to go home before this goes any further "don't kid yourself you want this" she said managing to bring him back to understanding reason.

At some point during the night Tony had announced how it was "that time of the year again" encouraging everyone to "choose a name from the hat" 

Tony walked from person to person giving everyone time to choose a name from a hat nobody had ever seen be used for any other purpose than Secret Santa name lucky dip. 

 

The next morning Steve woke up still fully clothed with even his coat still on from the night before. Groaning, he strained his neck to look for the possibility of water on his bedside table. 

There was a glass there with two pills beside it. God bless Peggy, she really was an angel. 

He swallowed down the tablets and drank his water, deciding to check his pockets before hanging his coat up

_Natasha_

The piece of scrap paper Steve had pulled out read. 

Shit.  
Secret Santa. 

This was going to be hard. He'd known from previous years that she was a hellish secret Santa. She only owned expensive clothes and even more expensive perfumes and she didn't have hobbies, not the kind you could buy for her anyway and she's been known to return a whole lot of gifts she received. Steve still felt fairly confident despite this though, he was king of Christmas presents after all. 

 

Steve briefly wondered who had pulled his name from the hat. 

Half wondering whose name Bucky had pulled out too. 

 

That evening, Steve got home from Peggy's after needing to go and apologize but clearly he was not late enough home because when he pulled into his drive he saw a man unloading belongings from a van into the empty house next door.

New neighbours were either going to be a good thing or a bad thing...

"Steve?" The man called out and what the fuck.

 "What're the odds man" Bucky said and Steve wished he had a baseball bat to beat him over the head with.   
_This_ new neighbour was definitely a bad thing. 

Instead of beating Bucky to death though, he just agreed in equal surprise, faking the fact that he wasn't hoping for the ground to swallow him up. 

"We could car pool to work" Bucky suggested laughing. And Steve had to force a laugh before he was able to politely excuse himself and go inside. 

He couldn't get away from this guy. 

 

Their secret Santa involved a series of five gifts, throughout the course of five days. And the first one Steve received was a blender. 

 

An actual fucking blender that you'd use for making fruit smoothies or chocolate milkshakes and who the fuck had bought him this. Steve wasn't a milkshake or smoothie kind of guy. He'd rather eat his fruit and eat his ice cream because if he wanted to drink ice cream he'd just leave it out the freezer to melt.  
There was a note inside it though. 

 

**You spin my head right round**

 

What was that about? 

Steve had bought Natasha a pair of red dangly earrings he thought would suit her. Although he had recruited the help of a young store employee after explaining how his way with women didn't exactly stretch as far as it did with men and frankly what do girls even like. She was extremely helpful though and had earned herself a 50 dollar tip. That was a highlight of working for Stark. It was good money. 

 

Steve had also starting putting more lights on the outside of his house. His street did an annual Christmas light competition and Steve had won for the past five years in a row. He wasn't about to give up that title just yet. 

The judging wasn’t for a while yet, so at least he’d have time to finalise everything.

He spent an hour putting up one flashing Rudolph light and the next evening tried not to become furious after a nightmare day with Bucky hanging over his shoulder and asking him questions that he should have known the answers too before getting this job, and to top it off Bucky had fitted a whole bunch of Christmas lights to his own house. 

Like hell was Steve going to let this jerk one up him on the Christmas lights. 

 

The next day was day 2 of secret Santa. 

Pillow cases. 

Just plain white pillow cases. 

It had to be Clint, Steve knew that the guy didn't care about fancy shit and Steve also knew for a fact he himself had plain white pillow cases. Although considering he only knew that from an awkward one night stand that happened two years ago it seemed a strange present to be given. 

Especially because it had been a one night stand and there was a note with this one too. 

 

**Dreaming of you**

 

There was a girl who always blushed when Steve entered the room. He couldn't remember her name but she seemed like the best bet now. 

 

That evening when Steve arrived home he added more lights to the front of his house. Trying to better his, over Bucky’s.

 

The next day his secret Santa left him a mean girls DVD and now Steve was truly stuck over who it could be. He sighed in frustration when he saw it because couldn't he be given a normal present? 

There was a note as Steve have expected this time: 

 

**Good girls are bad girls that haven’t been caught**

 

Well he wasn't a girl so what did this even mean, it was just confusing. 

 

That's not to say he didn't watch the movie that evening though. 

Although in his defence it was only because Bucky had added more lights to his house and after having Bucky email him 20 times a day asking if he knew how to copy something, then proceeding to send him links to dogs and babies and shooting stars and bed making tutorials, Steve needed some kind of relaxation.

 

_"Hey Steve is there a way I can group photos and text together?"_

_"Hi Steve show can I paste a picture without the text moving out of alignment?"_

_“STEVE look there’s a dog covering a baby with a blanket how adorable”_

_“Quick and easy elephant origami”_

 

He was a complete nightmare and Steve had just about had enough. 

He'd even asked to be left alone which led to the entire office singing _all by myself_ the entire day. Bucky had everyone wrapped around his little finger and Steve hated it. 

 

The next day he was given a singing Father Christmas that sang _all I want for Christmas is you_. It did a little dance and his hat flashed red too. It was cute really. 

There was a note again reading **play me**  

So Steve figured the Santa was saying it all?

Steve had flashbacks of the first Christmas carol night when he'd first technically met Bucky and briefly wondered if he was the one leaving him all the weird gifts. 

Steve and Bucky’s houses were about equal with the lights now which worried Steve a little but there was still a while till the judging, so there was still hope.

 

The next day was the last day for the final secret Santa gift. Then they had the weekend before having to guess on Monday. 

Steve didn't actually receive anything during the day that Friday. Usually there was something waiting on his desk when he came back from his lunch break but this time there was nothing until he arrived home.

By his front door, wrapped up the same as all the previous presents was a box of Christmas lights. Steve had unwrapped it at his kitchen table and after one look he was suddenly sure it was Bucky. He was holding onto the wire of the lights so tight as if doing so he could somehow strangle Bucky with them. 

 

He somehow missed the piece of paper at the bottom of the box too. 

**Baby you light up my world**

 

After a weekend of staring at the lights that were still in his kitchen, Steve tried to not think up some of the most imaginative way to sneak into Bucky’s house and suffocate him as he slept.  

As now it was Monday morning and the lights were still on the kitchen table taunting Steve all morning before he left to head to work. 

 

Natasha guessed that her secret Santa was Steve because "well I actually got good presents this yeah so obviously it was from the gay man in the room, well one of the gay men, was it you Steve?" 

"Guilty" Steve had raised his hands in surrender, secretly thrilled that he'd managed to get Natasha things she had liked whilst silently wondering who else way gay...

 

Bucky had gotten a box of beer, a flashing tie, a Christmas tree decoration, some fancy black shoes and a Christmas headband that had elf ears on the side. They were from Clint but Bucky had guessed Tony. Nobody could blame him though, Clint was a quiet guy who kept himself to himelf and Bucky was the new guy so it made sense he couldn't guess right. 

 

It was then Steve's turn and he positively glared at Bucky when he asked if it was him.  
"How'd you guess?" Bucky smirked. 

"I almost came round to your house to strangle you in your sleep" Steve said and Natasha laughed, Tony tried to get Bruce to guess who his was next, someone in the background said "yeah choke me daddy" and Bucky just grinned. 

That stupid grin on his stupid face just seemed to fuel Steve’s almost irrational anger "I kind of hate you" he blatantly told Bucky before heading back to his desk. Leaving everyone confused and shocked. Steve had a heart of gold so this was extremely out of character but he just could help it. He had completely forgotten any of the notes existed at this point. 

 

Even when he came back after lunch to one stuck on his computer monitor he somehow forgot the others he had received.  
This one read:

**This artificial lighting…**

Steve had no clue what it meant but it didn’t take long for him to forget it.

 

Until a few hours later when Steve's email pinged with a message from Bucky

 

_“Come over for dinner tonight”_

 

Steve snorted out loud, having to apologise to Maria who sat behind him. 

It pinged again:  
_I won't take no for an answer_

Sighing so loud that Jemma the receptionist who sat 3 desks over looked over at him. He just raised his hand up as way of apology.

And he emailed back saying he would if Bucky would then leave him alone

Bucky didn't email back. 

 

That night Steve headed round at 6:30, he didn't know why Bucky had invited him but he felt almost ambiguous toward it now. Was Bucky going to shapeshift and would Steve be eaten by a werewolf or was Bucky going to tell him he witnessed a murder as a child as an excuse for his behaviour. Either way or anything in between he couldn’t really care less.

 

"Hi I ordered pizza... Is that okay?" Bucky asked Steve when he opened the door. And if Steve didn't know any better it seemed like Bucky was almost shy. 

"Yeah sure whatever, that's fine" he agreed. 

Bucky then led Steve in to sit on the sofa. 

"Why don't you like me?"

Bucky wasted no time in asking, at the same time as Steve asked "why did you invite me?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you" Bucky said simply "now you" he added

"You're an annoying little shit" Steve said as explanation. 

But instead of fighting him Bucky actually agreed..."I know" he said but he has a smirk that defied his words.

The doorbell with the pizza interrupted them then and the conversation seemed to come to an end, but half way through his first slice Steve decided to ask why Bucky wanted to talk to him. 

"If you have herpes you only have to tell any previous lovers you know" he said because honestly why did Steve have to go have dinner with him for Bucky to talk to him. 

"I sort of have this huge crush on you" Bucky admitted and Steve swallowed a whole piece of pepperoni. Trying not to choke to death while trying to process what Bucky had said. 

 

 

Bucky had been singing Christmas carols with a few friends, using the opportunity to introduce himself at each of the houses down the road that he would soon be moving into. 

When across the road another team of people started heading out to houses. Somehow this innocent Christmas carolling became a kind of sing off and it was fairly even until one guy from across the road started singing Mariah Carey, almost at him. Bucky knew they couldn't win and that he was in trouble.  
The guy was adorable and what a voice he had and what a face wow. He couldn't see his features clearly enough in the darkness but he could see the sparkle in his eyes and how his hair was styled and how he was clearly passionate about Christmas. He was wearing one of those corny Christmas jumpers with a coat over the top which had fur lining around the hood. Even if he couldn't sing Bucky would have let him win anyway. 

Then, two days later, on Monday morning, his first day at the legendary Stark Industries, they got introduced because as it happened to be the best coincidence in the world, this guy Steve also worked for Tony stark. 

Seeing Steve's eyes in the bright lights of Stark Industries was a whole different thing from the dark street light lit road and it was a surprise he didn't actually pass out right there on the marble floor. 

He luckily managed to stay upright and introduce himself. And even shook his hand. Steve's hand was so warm. Like he'd been wearing gloves before he'd got there. Which maybe he was, he was the type of person Bucky believed would. However Steve seemed almost frosty towards Bucky, leaving him confused and a little hurt. It's not like he knew the guy but then again he didn't know the guy- why would he have a problem with him?

There was then Tony's Christmas party. 

Natasha had offered to go with him and proceeded to hand feed him strawberry’s throughout the evening far enough away so that Steve couldn't hear them but right in his eye line nonetheless. 

Natasha had then told him later when Steve was drunk and dancing with the gorgeous woman in the red dress, "he's so jealous. He never gets drunk and he hates dancing. Trust me" and Bucky had. 

 

He'd then pulled out Steve's name from the secret Santa hat and after the relief that it wasn't someone he hadn't even met and after a brief panic over if it was okay to send roses and chocolates in heart shaped boxes and spa vouchers he decided to send completely neutral gifts instead. 

At least that was the original plan but it seemed to not go entirely as planned when Bucky started wishing he could grab Steve's face and just tell him how god damn dreamy he was. 

Then, the next evening, upon arriving at his new house, and finding out Steve was his actual fucking neighbour, Bucky thanked God before he finished unloading the last remaining boxes into their corresponding room and then wanking off in the shower. Steve was gorgeous Bucky wasn't going to be ashamed of thinking so. 

 

There was then the whole Christmas light competition which honestly, Bucky had no intention of even trying to put in a lot of effort, except maybe he wanted to beat Steve, if only to see him get that angry look in his eyes that made Bucky think he could break a bed frame. 

 

And finally there was the grand reveal. 

Hearing someone shout out "choke me daddy" after Steve confessed wanting to strangle Bucky, made Bucky want to hide his face and simultaneously high five whoever it was. He knew Steve must have wanted to actually strangle him with the Christmas lights he'd left for him but - and Bucky tried to prevent the thoughts from entering his head he swears - would Steve be into the bdsm side of things? Was Bucky even into that? He never had been before but the idea of Steve either laid out helpless and completely to Bucky’s mercy, or the other way round was far too hot. He was also majorly disappointed.  
Steve still seemed to hate him.  
He clearly hadn't found the notes even remotely cute or thoughtful. 

 It was almost Christmas and so his pride went out the window and he knew he needed to get Steve round for dinner. 

He had hoped the notes he’d left with each present would soften Steve's icy exterior toward him but maybe it contrasted too much with boring everyday gifts. 

And after Steve had finished almost dying choking and after Bucky finished laughing at the irony of Steve choking when he had wanted Bucky to be the one, Steve finally had a drink of water and asked Bucky what the hell he meant by having a crush on him. 

"er what do you mean? Really how couldn't I? The first time we sort of met, you starting singing Mariah Carey at me. And you have eyes that I wish I could swim in. And I see you when you walk out in your pyjamas to fetch your paper in the mornings like you’re some god damn cartoon, and you love Christmas so much it's really adorable. And you have a great smile and nice hair that looks positively golden in Stark industries lighting you're really sweet but you also can get really fucking hot when you're mad and um" 

Bucky started rambling as an explanation,

"Okay er right" Steve seemed slightly shell shocked 

"You asked for it" Bucky tried to push the blame onto him for his outburst but fortunately Steve just nodded along with him

"Yeah I know, I know I did". 

 

 Steve then actually thought properly about everything. About How Bucky had smiled at him after his Christmas song solo, how maybe the Christmas light thing was cute and not so annoying? 

And holy shit finally it clicked that it was Bucky that had left him a note that pointed towards the Santa that was singing _all I want for Christmas is you_ as well as all the rest, and there must've been a note with the Christmas lights too, how did he miss that?   
There was also the fact that Bucky was right now sliding a new note towards him that said  **Is it too late to say sorry** **  
**

Bucky could almost see the cogs moving in Steve mind and decided to fuck the outcome and just kiss the guy. 

 

Leaning in, he kissed Steve gently on his lips, lingering just long enough until he felt Steve kiss him back. Steve's hands moved up Bucky’s back almost instinctively to the back of his neck and Bucky hands were one on Steve's thigh and one on his waist and when Bucky pulled back Steve was able to see his slightly pinker than usual lips, his hair that seemed to frame his face and was actually really gorgeous now that he was looking properly, his eyes that were bright with happiness and there was a hand that felt warm on his thigh. 

He couldn't believe he was really thinking it but he realised there was a thin line between love and hate.

 

"It turns out that line, is his lips" Steve told Natasha the next day. After giving her an almost step by step account of what had happened. He had gone home after kissing Bucky for a while, until they both got a little tired and Bucky confessed that if they carried on he might spontaneously burst into flames.  
When Steve arrived home, and after leaning breathless against his door trying to order his thoughts, he suddenly remembered the secret Santa notes and went to the Christmas light box, or maybe it was the door knob digging into his back which made him move away. Either way, he soon found the note at the bottom of the gift box and after reading it, thinking about everything now, he realised that wow maybe he actually really liked Bucky. He was after all, incredibly charming  
He’d then taken the lights and wrapped them around his headboard, falling asleep with the red, green, yellow and blue lights glowing above him.  
  
 Natasha just laughed at him, confessing she'd known Bucky was going crazy over him. 

"What! You knew? What did he say?" Steve was asking her 

"Just every time you walked in a room he'd stare after you I’d be surprised if I'm the only one who knows. Oh also, he told me" Natasha explained

"He told you?" 

"Well yeah he asked if you were single so naturally I told him that you were a virgin- I'm kidding Steve!" Natasha added when she saw the look of horror on Steve's face. "I did tell him you were single though and he was just like _he's gorgeous isn't 'e_ so I was like well he's no Brad Pitt but I wouldn't kick him out of bed"

"Natasha!" 

"Well c’mon let’s not bother pretending our crazy night together never happened but that's not the point. Point is I still don't know the guys last name because all he ever talked about is your stupid ass"

"No, not your literal ass" she added when Steve just frowned at her

"Actually yeah sometimes it was you're literal ass" she said as she headed back to her desk leaving Steve standing stunned. 

 

Half way through the afternoon Bucky came over behind Steve and leant his chin on Steve's shoulder, gently kissing his temple before stealing a bunch of paperclips, leaving Steve to yell after him

 "Why do you need so many?!"  
 "Maybe I wanna’ make paperclip handcuffs to tie you to the bed frame" Bucky shouted back almost innocently, or as innocently as you could say such a thing. 

Before suddenly realising that they're in a crowded office and he had to quickly apologize to Tony who was walking past at the time.  

 

That night, true to his word Bucky tied Steve’s wrists to the bed frame although using two of Bucky’s ties and not paperclips. "Very Mr grey" Steve commented mid moan while Bucky sucked and licked and fingered Steve to within an inch of his life. 

The second Bucky had started to push his tongue just inside him and sucked around his rim Steve couldn't believe he'd ever considered killing Bucky. Why would anyone waste such a talent?

 

Steve suddenly had a problem though. Given the gifts from Bucky and everything that had happened since, he assumed he definitely needed to buy Bucky something for Christmas.  
He spent forever brainstorming before deciding that if he couldn’t think of a perfect meaningful gift, a weird and hopefully Bucky would see it as a cute one would have to do.  
He presented it to Bucky the next time he saw him at work:

 

_Rogers’_

_Golden Ticket_

_Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this golden ticket from Mr Steve Rogers_  
Present this ticket at my front door at 5:30 on the evening of December 25 th and do not be late.  
Do not bring anybody with you as this is by invitation only.

_In your wildest dreams you cannot imagine the marvellous surprises that await you._

Steve stood awkwardly watching as he waited for Bucky to finish reading, and the way Bucky looked up at him when he was done with that huge smile and even his eyes were smiley…  
“Can I see you before then too?” he asked  
“well yeah sure if you want to, but just you have to be there then too” Steve replied.  
“Perfect, see ya’ there baby” Bucky kissed Steve quickly before heading back to his desk.

 “awh you guys are cute” Peggy was suddenly leaning over Steve’s shoulder,

“hello” Steve sighed and Peggy simply laughed at him as she walked away, blowing a kiss back at him.

 The next week Bucky basically lived at Steve's house and so the day before the lights judging they decided to move every single one of the lights that covered the front of Bucky’s house and put them onto the front of Steve's house. Creating a complete beautiful mess of brightness and it was almost ridiculous how the house seemed to disappear underneath them all. 

Steve won the competition. Much to the annoyance of Phil Coulson who lived the opposite end of the road and had come a close second every year that Steve had won. 

But Bucky insisted that he had basically won as well as he got to spend whenever he liked between Steve's legs teasing him and trailing his fingers down his body and sucking his dick until Steve came in his mouth. 

 ***

 On Christmas day Steve spent the morning and Christmas lunch with his family, then he stopped by Natasha’s for the afternoon, making sure he was home for 4:30 to prepare for Bucky.

Bucky arrived dead on time, to a perfectly set up table with candles and roses and Steve dressed to the nines.

"Merry Christmas" Steve welcomed him while Bucky stared into the room open mouthed, “you know I was the one crazy about you right? Why do you have to beat me at the one thing I was pretty great at?” he asked before kissing Steve.

"Merry Christmas to you too by the way" He then said.

 

At the end of the night, when they were the perfect amount of tipsy and sat cuddling in front of _The Grinch,_ It made Steve wonder how the hell they ever got to this place. Was everything moving too fast? These thoughts were quickly discarded however, when Bucky sighed against his chest, softly reaching up and stoking Steve’s entire face.  
Steve laughed “what are you doing?”  
“I like your face” Bucky said as explanation.  
“I like your face” Steve countered  
“you have nice arms”  
“you have nice hair”  
“you have lovely eyes”  
“you have very nice lips”  
“which like your very nice lips” Bucky said cutting off Steve by kissing him.

 

Bucky also told Steve how he'd wondered about the bdsm side of things and after getting past the initial awkwardness of the conversation and after Bucky insisting "not that I won't buy you flowers and stuffed bears on Valentine's Day and I also pledge we have candles with every meal, yes every single one, even breakfast" they went into the new year with Bucky’s hands tied to the headboard while Steve wholeheartedly pounded into him causing Bucky to scream out and try to pull his hands loose to be able to touch his cock because Steve was showing no signs of stopping. Steve carried on, not touching Bucky’s cock either, until Bucky came untouched and Steve followed quickly after, half calling out a string of curse words and half laughing because Bucky had just announced how they'd literally been fucking all year. 

 

The morning after Bucky rolled over to face Steve, "you know I love you right?" he asked leaning his chin on Steve's shoulder. 

"You don't have to say it back, I know this whole thing was different to me than it was you and that's okay I just wanted t-" he was cut off by Steve covering his mouth with his hand, "lick me all you like, as if that's going to bother me, I think we're past that to be honest also if you would just shut up, I love you too" Bucky broke out into a smile and Steve then replaced his hand with his lips.

"I love love love you" Bucky shouted and Steve erupted into giggles "are you giggling?" Bucky asked in amazement "fuck! I love you" he started dragging Steve out of the bed despite him protesting best he could "Bucky, what're you doing!?" 

"cmon' dance with me Stevie" Bucky pulled at his hand. "I like it when you call me that" Steve said giving in to let Bucky pull him up "but I suck at dancing" 

"I don't care, I'm so happy I just wanna dance" Bucky said and how could Steve turn him down now? Bucky grabbed his hands, pulling him with him as he leapt around the room until Steve pushed him back against the wall "I love you lots like jelly tots" Steve told him, "I love you lots like vodka shots" Bucky replied. "Now, you get dressed, I'm going to make a start on breakfast" 

Once Steve was dressed he walked out to the kitchen where Bucky was frying bacon in his boxers. "Why don't you have to be dressed?" Steve asked, "cause' I like driving you crazy, think of it as payback for when we first met and you didn't even like me while I was going out of my mind" Bucky explained as Steve looked back at him with a look of pure fondness in his eyes. 

"So...candles? You were serious?" Steve then asked, as he looked around, guesturing around the room, before returning his gaze back on Bucky who was stood facing him and smiling like a chocolate covered unicorn had flown into the room carrying a bucket of rainbows which had been poured directly over Steve's head. "Serious as a heart attack"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was okay I just really wanted to write a Christmas au! :)
> 
> Also every other note is a song lyric in case you didn't get that ?
> 
> If anyone has any au ideas id love to write them?


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